If you've ever coveted a piece of apparel worn by a coworker, a stranger on the street or sighted in an Instagram feed, a new app called ASAP54 can find it for you in stores, or at least something very similar.

All you'll need is a photo. The app will ask you to crop out the specific item you're looking for, and will return numerous results of similar items which can be purchased through the app's mobile browser.

ASAP54 launched on iOS on Friday and is allowing new users in on a cascading basis.

The app is made by Daniela Cecílio, previously of boutique fashion site Farfetch (and married to its CEO).

The idea came to the onetime fashion designer after her frustration with shopping online and trying to find the perfect item.

“You fall in love, you have an emotional feeling,” she says. “It's a painful process to go to Google and put it into words.”

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While most retailer and brand ecommerce sites allow users to search by size, color, type (i.e., wedges, heels or flats for shoes), it can be tedious to narrow down exactly what you're looking for — and once you do, you often find it doesn't exist, or at least isn't on the market anymore.

Discovery Algorithms

While ASAP54 has some resemblance to Shazam, the app that tells you the name of a song based on an audio clip, Cecílio notes fashion is more diverse, due in part to camera angles, making a photo search less conclusive. Her background in fashion is what sets ASAP54 apart from competitors.

Mashable covered a similar site called OSHa'Re that was being tested in Taiwan and offers reverse image search on desktop.

In ASAP54, if the search doesn't return satisfactory results, users are given the opportunity to ask a stylist, what Cecílio describes as “a human element to refine tech when it fails.”c

After a photo is searched, it is added to a user's activity stream along with the similar items found by ASAP54.

How It Works

I searched ASAP54 for my black Steve Madden boots, a Betsy Johnson bag and a friend's scarf. No exact matches were found — which could mean the brand or an online retailer that sells it are not partnered with ASAP54 yet. Most partners at launch are mid-range to high-end brands or retailers, such as Barneys, J Crew and Topshop.

Unlike fashion magazines that might show a celebrity's outfit and where one can buy similar items more affordably, ASAP54 simply hopes to find a comparable match. For example, the search for my Steve Madden boots returned similar items, the least expensive pair for $113, while the boots are actually priced under $100.

There is a toggle for price, if you'd like to limit results in a range, and you can search by color — so you could still use a photo of a friend's green jacket even if you're looking for something similar in a different color. You can also refine the search by brand.

Going forward, Cecílio expects users will not only use the search function themselves, but also find fashion inspiration in the app's social stream, similar to Instagram or Pinterest. But in ASAP54, everything is shoppable.

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